TEAM CHEVY AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY: PAT SUHY, NASCAR GROUP MANAGER, GM RACING:
“First, congratulations to Ron Hornaday for being the first driver to reach 50 wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with his victory last Saturday in Kentucky. Every one of those wins has been behind the wheel of a Chevy Silverado and we take great pride in Ron’s accomplishments. Chevrolet is enjoying a good year in the series, currently leading the drivers, owners and manufacturers points races.
“As the series moves to Kansas City for the second time this season, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is amazingly close, with only 19 points separating the top nine drivers. But with seven races remaining, the championship is far from being decided. Team Chevy is well represented though, with six of the twelve eligible drivers in contention. As usual, all our teams will be heading to Kansas Speedway, a fairly flat mile and a half tri-oval, with the intention of bringing home a win. But it’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. As evidenced by the close point margin, the Chase contenders are at the top of their game and showing no signs of letting up.
“Chevrolet’s Sprint Cup teams have consistently shown that they can stay ahead of the competition by utilizing all of their internal resources, coupled with the expertise that our General Motors engineering team provides, to win races and championships. If all goes as planned, we’ll be celebrating another win this Sunday in Kansas City.”
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
· Chevrolet has won 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Manufacturers’ Championships
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 682 wins AND 618 poles in NSCS competition
o 2011 wins – 13
o 2011 poles – 9
TEAM CHEVY IN THE 2011 CHASE FOR THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP:
· Team Chevy has six drivers competing in the 10 race 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Standings after Race 3 of 10:
o Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, is the points leader
o Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/ Mobil 1 Chevrolet, sits 3rd in the standings, 9 points behind leader
o Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, is 5th in points, 13 points behind leader
o Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, is 9th in points, 19 points behind leader
o Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, sits 10th in points, 34 points behind leader
o Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, is 11th in standings, 41 points behind leader
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK-KANSAS SPEEDWAY:
Team Chevy drivers have won 6 of 11 previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races at Kansas Speedway (Kansas)
· Chevy has 6 poles at Kansas
Team Chevy drivers have scored 24 top-five finishes and 44 top-10 finishes at Kansas
A Chevrolet has led 1,092 laps (37.9% of possible 2,880) at Kansas
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, has two (2) wins at Kansas
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, has two (2) Kansas wins
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, has won once (1) at Kansas
Mark Martin, No. 5 CARQUEST Auto Parts/Go.Daddy.com Chevrolet, has one (1) win at Kansas
Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, has won once at Kansas
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – 1ST IN STANDINGS:
“I think when you look at the facility itself (Kansas Speedway), when you look at the surrounding area, there are not too many places that we go to that have built around the race track like this particular track. From a fan standpoint, when you look at the race track, there are things to do and places to go, so that part of it is good. The race track itself is a lot like a lot of the other race tracks we go to as far as the race track shape and size, so that doesn’t really set it aside from a lot of other places. The one thing that does set it aside is the way that the race track has aged, which is a good thing. You look at Charlotte, those types of race tracks, the asphalt has not changed much over the years and this particular race track, the tires wear out, it gets slick and the cars start to slide around, which makes the racing groove move up, which it has done here over the past couple of years so that part of it has changed a little bit differently than a lot of the mile-and-a-half tracks.
“I think the competition level is so even. I don’t think you’re going to see anybody come in here and dominate like you have before, as far as just taking off and running away. You’re going to be consistent and solid and it’s just a matter of keeping yourself in it until you get to the last couple of races and if you can keep yourself in contention, hopefully you’ve eliminated most of the other guys in the Chase.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET – 3RD IN STANDINGS:
“It seems like in the last couple of years it (Kansas Speedway) has really come around. It’s seasoned and it’s gotten to where we can get off the bottom and move around the racetrack more. That’s what you want as a driver. That’s what the teams want. You don’t want to be stuck following guys and not being able to move around and pass. It just makes you confident that you know you have options when you go into the corner where you can help yourself out as a driver. It makes this place a lot more fun to race when you’re able to move around and find different grooves.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – 5TH IN STANDINGS:
“The track’s (Kansas Speedway) lost a ton of grip and it’s heading toward Atlanta from a grip standpoint. There are lots of grooves to race on and cars don’t really wear the tire off. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it could be a fuel mileage race but I don’t really want to think about it from that standpoint.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – 9TH IN STANDINGS:
“This has been a great track for us and I can’t wait for this weekend’s race. I hope we run like we did earlier this year. If so, it gives us a chance to make up some points. I feel like Kansas is where we really turned the corner this year with our 1.5-mile program. We ran really strong and I felt like we had a shot at winning that race. I guess we are somewhat fortunate (with seven races remaining in the Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup). We’ve had only one good race out of three, but we’re down only 19 points. That doesn’t have to be made up in one event. Seven races is a lot of races. But every race is important. It doesn’t matter what track you are going to and what your past experience or stats are there. It’s all about what you do these next seven weeks. That’s all it boils down to. And I think this No. 24 team is strong enough to put a string of seven good races together.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET – 10TH IN STANDINGS:
“We kind of struggled in that race, but the car ended up not being too bad. I don’t know if we could have caught Brad (Keselowski) there at the end, but we had to do what we had to do at that point. I was happy with the second-place finish, but I do think we need to qualify better so we won’t have to deal with the dirty air. The aero balance on the car can be frustrating being so far back.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET – 11TH IN STANDINGS:
“Kansas is quite a bit different with the asphalt. The seams are the same as in the asphalt, I guess you could say. The way we have to cut them and work them, cars can be pretty sensitive there. Charlotte is a totally different animal with the banking and the speed and the tire combination that we have at that racetrack. I look forward to both of them. We had a decent car at Kansas in the first race and never got track position and the improvements we made in the car and the team at Chicago, I look forward to going back to a mile-and-a-half racetrack because that had been one of our weaknesses and I feel like it is one of our strengths right now.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET – 13TH IN STANDINGS:
“Kansas is a great market. They earned a second date. Beyond that, it’s just a great place for a fan to go watch a race. There’s so much to do around the race track within walking distance, malls, shopping centers and a ton of restaurants. There’s going to be a casino on property next year. So many things have happened to that area because of the race track. Everyone around there is proud of what it’s become. It’s just a long week (with additional pressure) because that’s where I’m from. A lot of my personal and dirt team sponsors are based in that area too. It’s a long busy week and it’s important to reach out and help all those people that support us throughout the season.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – 16TH IN STANDINGS:
“The best thing to me about going to Kansas is that it’s real close to Batesville, Ark. I have a lot of fans that make the drive up there to support me and this team and that means a lot to me. I feel like our intermediate program is getting better and better. We’ve gotten top-10s in two of our last three intermediate races. Hopefully we can give them a show this weekend and get a good finish out of it.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – 19TH IN STANDINGS:
“We hope to get things back on track this weekend in Kansas. If you look at our season to this point and last year, we’ve had good runs, but the finishes aren’t there. It has been like that. We have had good speed, but bad finishes for one reason or another. We run out of gas, we pit and everyone stays out, or they make it and we don’t. Jim (Pohlman) is now getting comfortable. It’s not an easy transition but now he is relaxing and getting in the zone, and things are going to turn around and get better.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SCHROCK/MENARDS CHEVROLET – 23RD IN STANDINGS:
“We felt like we let one get away there (Kansas Speedway) last year. If I remember right, last Fall the No. 16 won the race and he was really fast. Everyone else was kind of racing for second-place. When we came in for our last pit stop, we didn’t have a good one and fell back quite a bit because of that. We felt we let one get away there. By the time we get to qualifying, we’ve gone through practice and figured out how we want the car to drive off into the corner. If you can do that, you usually can qualify pretty well by arcing it out and turning the wheel.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – 24TH IN STANDINGS:
“I think we’ve always had good race cars at Kansas (Speedway), we’ve just always had something go wrong. I feel really good about going there and I really enjoy the race track. I think it’s a great track and as it has gotten older, it’s become a much, much better track to race on. I have really high expectations going there. It’s your typical 1.5-mile speedway where dynamics are very important. Although, it’s not a real high-banked or high-speed race track, the grip goes away and it gets slick. It’s not a place that you tend to run wide open during qualifying. It’s a track that you have to be aggressive on. It’s not a cookie cutter, high grip, new pavement type of race track.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING CHEVROLET – 25TH IN STANDINGS:
“Once again we (Furniture Row Racing) will be showcasing the Farm American paint scheme on our No. 78 Chevrolet. What better place to pay tribute to our farmers and ranchers than in the Heartland of America. We’ve been on a consistent pace the past four races, scoring four straight top-20s. While we like the consistency and staying away from trouble and mechanical issues, we would like to see the final results improve to top-15s and top-10s. I feel we can do that at Kansas since we have a solid intermediate track program. Kansas is the first of four remaining races on mile-and-a-half tracks. A good performance Sunday will not only give us a lift, but also help us prepare for the other 1.5 ovals.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET – 27TH IN STANDINGS:
“I am looking forward to going back to Kansas again. I think our team has made some progress on our cars since our first trip there in June. We ran good a Chicago a couple of weeks ago before we had a motor problem and the two tracks are very similar so we hope we can have our Chevrolet running strong again. This is also the closest track to Bass Pro Shops headquarters in Springfield, Mo. and we always want to put on a good show for all of the guests that we will have on hand this weekend.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 98 CURB AGAJANIAN/REAGAN CENTENNIAL/CAMPING WORLD/CURB RECORDS CHEVROLET
“It’s an honor to make my NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut with the support of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, Mike Curb and Camping World. I think this weekend will be an opportunity to get experience in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and to race at a totally different level while highlighting the accomplishments of one of our nation’s greatest leaders.”
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